Category: Registration & Title

The Scoop on California AB 516 for Dealers 

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On January 1, 2019, California became one of 36 states to mandate that auto dealers, lessor-retailers, wholesale dealers and auto auctions provide a Temporary License Plate (TLP) for each vehicle sold. California Assembly Bill No. 516 also created an electronic Report of Sale (ROS) system that automatically generates an ROS number for each deal. 

The legislation is designed to improve public safety by addressing delays between the sale of a vehicle and the receipt of permanent license plates, which can result in numerous vehicles on the road without license plates. The temporary plates are valid for 90 days and must be removed and replaced by the vehicle owner when they receive their permanent plates. 

Dealers – there have been some changes to your F&I process: 

Paperwork changes 

  • You no longer need to keep a stack of Report of Sale forms.  
  • Sending the 5-day notice portion of the Report of Sale form to the DMV is no longer necessary.  
  • You still need to print out the completed Report of Sale form, which must be signed and submitted with the title and registration.  
  • You will continue to place the temporary operating copy portion of the report of the Report of Sale form in the windshield of the sold vehicle. 

Temporary plate creation 

  • For any vehicle sold that does not already display license plates, your dealership needs to print the temporary license plate(s) on special paper using a laser printer and affix them to the vehicle before the customer leaves the lot with their new purchase.  

How Dealertrack California Reg & Title can help 

As an authorized First Line Service Provider for the California DMV, the Dealertrack California Reg & Title solution has direct access to assist dealers in electronically reporting the sale of a vehicle and issuing a TLP as needed.  

If you need any help in fully implementing these changes or have questions about how California AB 516 affects your operations, please visit our detailed FAQ page and sign up for our 45-minute OnDemand video training.

Fall in Love with End-to-End Titling 

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Do you love your dealership’s titling solutions? “Love” sounds like a strong word, but consider how important it is to be able to handle all your registration and titling workflow for vehicles taken in on trade, vehicles delivered to in-state customers, and vehicles delivered to out-of-state customers.   

What you need is a comprehensive suite of registration and titling solutions that increase your back office efficiency, maximize profit, and contribute to customer satisfaction. The total titling experts at Dealertrack can offer you just that.  

Here are some reasons we think you’ll fall in love with the registration and title technology solutions that Dealertrack provides. 

Faster Processing 

How much would you love being able to reduce payoff-title release time from 12-18+ days down to as little as 4-6 days? With Dealertrack Accelerated Title, you can speed title release on trade-ins, which helps with faster inventory turn of these vehicles, reducing inventory holding costs. Having the title in hand also makes it nearly twice as likely that a vehicle will sell at auction on first pass. 

More Efficient Workflow 

For in-state title processing, you’ll be smitten with the powerful, user-inspired transaction and workflow management tools you can have at your fingertips for fast, accurate, up-to-date and compliant processing. We think you’ll also be fond of the industry-leading support we provide. 

Unmatched Expertise 

If your dealership has been shy about fully embracing out-of-state customers, RegUSA® can smooth the path for you. This solution simplifies your out-of-state workflow and provides certified, compliant handling for any state’s registration and titling. So you can welcome online deals with open arms and provide a full-service experience for every customer.  

Want to learn more about Dealertrack Total Titling Solutions? We’d love to walk you through them! Register for a demo today. 

Why Each Deal Should Include Reg & Title Processing

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Every dealership is looking for ways to go the extra mile for customers. Not only do “above and beyond’ experiences improve CSI scores, they also increase customer loyalty and the likelihood of positive reviews, recommendations and referrals.

One finishing touch a dealership can provide for customers is to handle their state registration and titling process for them. Just imagine how happy your customers will be driving off in their new vehicle, secure in the knowledge that you helped them sidestep a long wait at the DMV.

Set Your Dealership Apart

Many dealerships still hesitate to take on the complexity of registration and title transactions, particularly for out-of-state customers. However, technology has advanced to the point where software solutions like Dealertrack RegUSA make cross-border and out-of-state registration simple and compliant.

Knowing that you have the potential to surprise and delight all of your customers with this final step of their car purchase, it just makes sense to include registration and titling in your deal process.

Creating Loyal Customers Helps Your Bottom Line

Providing an exemplary customer experience is valuable for much more than just CSI scores. Mid-year 2022 data from NADA shows that the average customer acquisition cost per new vehicle sold was $695. Research from John Wiley & Sons has shown that it costs ten times as much to obtain a new customer as it does to retain an existing customer.

In today’s margin-compressed reality, it’s important to handle every single customer with the utmost care. Dealerships are making good strides in getting repeat business, with a trend toward more buyers returning to dealerships where they have previous experience. Taking care of their registration and titling for customers can be the icing on the cake that builds more repeat business.

Is Your Dealership Maximizing Out-of-State Sales Opportunities?

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There was a time when dealerships didn’t think much about attracting out-of-state customers unless they happened to be located near a college town, military base or state line. The internet has changed all that.  

According to Cox Automotive 2018 Car Buyer Journey research, 60% of the time car buyers spend buying a vehicle consists of researching and shopping online. 

Car buyers can now peruse vehicle inventories all over the country from the comfort of their own homes. That means there’s always a chance that the next customer to walk through the door drove cross-country or booked a one-way flight from another state to get to you. 

When you take into account that half of all car buyers do not contact the dealership before they stop by for the first time, it’s important to be prepared for customers from anywhere. 

The flip side is that your dealership is no longer just competing with the auto dealers across the street and down the road. Now, every dealer in the country is a potential competitor. 

If you don’t feel quite ready to take on the myriad titling and registration laws, regulations, guidelines and processes that differ for every state, you’re not alone. It can feel overwhelming to keep up with your own state’s registration and title forms, fees and taxes, much less those from 49 other states. 

Fortunately, there are software solutions available to help. Dealertrack’s RegUSA is designed to handle dealerships’ out-of-state registration and titling needs for all 50 U.S. states, including calculating fees and taxes and generating the proper forms. All this while ensuring compliance with each state’s regulations. 

With an out-of-state registration and titling solution in place, your dealership can confidently market to potential buyers across the state line and across the nation. Knowing that you have the tools to handle registration and titling for all your customers, no matter where they live, opens up sales opportunities that you may have been overlooking in the past.  

3 Scenarios Where Back Office Tech Can Save Your Bottom Line

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There are three types of situations in which inefficient back office processes can sabotage a dealership’s bottom line. You may recognize some of these scenarios at your dealership. Let’s take a look and see how a solid registration and title technology partner can help.

  1. The Fruitless Internet Search

In this instance, you have an out-of-state customer who wants to buy a car that you’ve advertised online. You’re not familiar with the forms, tax rates and regulations for registration and title in their state, so you spend hours looking online for the information you need.

In the meantime, the customer is getting more and more frustrated that it’s taking forever to complete the sale.

No one expects your back office staff to have encyclopedic knowledge of registration and title processes and rates for all 50 states. However, you can plan ahead for these situations so you know how to find the correct information – and also set expectations so your customers are prepared for the amount of time it will take.

You can also implement technology solutions that include out-of-state registration and title information, automatically calculate taxes and fees, help you stay compliant with each state’s regulations and do it all quickly and efficiently.

  1. The Vanishing Ex-Spouse

Here we have a situation where an out-of-state customer comes to your dealership to purchase a vehicle and they bring you a trade-in, claiming to be the sole owner. Because your dealership wants to close the deal, you move forward with the sale. The customer leaves with their new vehicle and you start the title search for the trade-in.

Oops! It turns out that the customer’s former spouse is listed as co-owner. You can’t reach your customer, and hours of searching have failed to turn up contact information for the other person. Now you’re potentially facing legal issues and a complete loss on the trade-in.

The non-tech solution is to slow things down and make sure you don’t make decisions like this under pressure. Of course, that means you run the risk of losing sales if you delay too long, so it’s important to set a risk threshold.

With the right registration and titling technology solution, you can instantly view the details of even out-of-state titles so you’ll know what steps – if any – need to be taken to confirm the legitimacy of each trade-in.

  1. The Lost Sale

Let’s say you have a buyer interested in a vehicle that you recently took in on trade. You’re still working to square away the registration and titling details along with other prep, so you let the customer know that it’ll be available in a week or so. The customer doesn’t want to wait that long, so you lose the sale and now you’re looking at holding costs as well.

To take the delays out of processing trade-ins, it helps to create a process for accuracy checks on critical steps so you’ll be on the lookout for inaccuracies such as short pay rejections. It also helps to build relationships with lenders and consider the holding costs associated with lenders who are slow to fund.

Finally, using registration and title technology that streamlines the process is your most helpful tool to add speed and efficiency to trade-in processing.

Explore how Dealertrack Registration & Title solutions can help your business.